The pressure was withering, two dozen shots whizzing past, the team’s own control of the ball infrequent. But
Chelsea knew that its patience and muscularity had given trouble through the years to Barcelona’s finesse.
“They don’t like to play us,” Roberto Di Matteo, Chelsea’s interim manager, said before Wednesday’s 1-0 victory in the first leg of a European Champions League semifinal.
Last month, Chelsea adopted a new style along with its new manager. The Blues abandoned the technical possession-oriented approach favored by Andre Villas-Boas, the former coach, and reintroduced its more familiarly aggressive, counterattacking long-ball style. Chelsea now seemed to get the ball upfield so quickly, said Cesc Fàbregas of Barcelona, “they are like motorbikes.”
On Wednesday night, Chelsea managed only one shot on goal but made it count. As the first half extended into two minutes of added time, forward Didier Drogba scored on a classic counterattack, giving the Blues a stirring but unlikely victory.
“When you score a goal and win a game, I think you deserve to win,” Di Matteo said. “Certainly they had more possession and a few more attempts at the target. But they always have that. So you need to be clinical when you take your chances against Barca.”
Barcelona, the defending European club champion, will host the return leg Tuesday. Many expected this team, widely considered one of the greatest ever, to have little trouble advancing. But Barcelona has not defeated Chelsea in their last six meetings. And the Catalans will have to confront a vulnerability that was exposed again Wednesday.
As masterful as Barcelona can be with its mesmerizing passing, it has on occasion this season struggled to finish its chances. Instead of returning home with three or four goals, Barcelona could not find the net Wednesday despite controlling 72 percent of the possession, holding a 24-5 advantage in total shot attempts and a 6-1 edge on shots on goal.
Frustration began in the ninth minute when forward Alexis Sánchez hit the crossbar above an empty net and continued beyond 90 minutes when his replacement, Pedro Rodriguez, ricocheted a shot off the right post.
“If you count possession of the ball, we’re going to win every game,” said Pep Guardiola, Barcelona’s manager. But, he added, the object of the game “is to put the ball into the goal; that is the most difficult thing.”
Late in the first half, the steadfast Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard stole the ball from Lionel Messi, who has now not scored in seven games against the Blues. Quickly, Lampard spotted Ramires, who found acres of space to gallop down the left flank with Barcelona’s defense caught out of position. Ramires crossed to Drogba, whose shot had enough power and direction to elude goalkeeper Víctor Valdés and find the net.
Drogba is 34, and he and many of his teammates were thought to be too old and creaky as Chelsea played erratically in the English Premier League this season. But the Blues have now won 10 of their 13 games since Di Matteo became manager. Drogba delivered a stunning goal to begin a 5-1 rout of Tottenham in an F.A. Cup semifinal on Sunday. So Di Matteo stuck with his power over Fernando Torres’s speed against Barcelona.
“I thought I had to be fair, looking back on the game on Sunday, looking at the way we wanted to play,” Di Matteo said of Drogba. “I thought he was the right man. In the past, a lot of the public opinion was that these boys were over the line, too old, to play two games and to play at this level. I think they gave the answer tonight.”
Until he scored, Drogba had spent considerable time on the turf, complaining about fouls. But he is a player of embellishment as well as great skill, and his grievances found no sympathy from the referee, Felix Brych. Instead of pouting, Drogba remained aggressive and delivered the winning goal.
In doing so, he created a celebrative moment and found himself in the headlines for reasons of achievement rather than villainy. When these teams met in the 2009 Champions League semifinals, Drogba lost his temper after Barcelona prevailed on away goals here at Stamford Bridge, cursed into the television cameras and called the Norwegian referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo, a disgrace. He later received a four-match ban for his outburst.
Wednesday, Drogba’s response was jubilance, not petulance. And his teammates, particularly goalkeeper Petr Cech, the back four and an unwavering midfield, remained serene and organized, never panicking under Barcelona’s relentless attack.
“They do it against Real Madrid, they do it against A.C. Milan,” Di Matteo said. “The team was prepared to be patient and not get frustrated. The boys were really determined not to let them through.”
